This stunning debut novel from Australian author Lucy Christopher generated considerable buzz for its nonstop suspense and breathtaking imagery. Sixteen-year-old Gemma is on a layover at Bangkok Airport, headed to Vietnam with her parents. Then the vaguely familiar Ty drugs Gemma’s drink and steals her away. Her head swirling in confusion, Gemma soon finds herself fighting to survive in the unforgiving Outback.

The Breakaway

When Naomi Jensen is kidnapped, it takes her parents two days to realize she's missing. Escape isn't high on her list of priorities when all she has to return to is an abusive boyfriend and parents who never paid much attention to her. For the first time in her life she's part of a family - even if it is a family of criminals. But she's still a captive. In a desperate attempt to regain some control in her life, Naomi embarks on a dangerous plan to make one of her kidnappers think she's falling in love with him.

Carter Reed 2: Carter Reed Series, Book 2

Carter bought his way out of the Mafia to protect Emma, but when an old ghost returns to the Mauricio family, a chain of events starts that can harm everyone. While Carter must decide to return to the Mauricio family or not, a face that is oddly familiar to Emma comes into her life. She's given the chance to discover more about her family while tension between the rivaling Mauricio and Bertal families comes to a head in an explosive way. The truce is officially off, and when the two worlds collide, Carter's decision is made.

The Broken

Best friends tell you everything - about their kitchen renovation, about their little girl’s schooling. How one of them is leaving the other for a younger model. Best friends don’t tell lies. They don’t take up residence on your couch for weeks. They don’t call lawyers. They don’t make you choose sides. Best friends don’t keep secrets about their past. They don't put you in danger. Best friends don’t always stay best friends.

The Killing Woods

Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd's dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's broken body. "Gone," he says, then retreats into silence. What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent - isn't he? Before he's convicted, she's got to uncover the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee's charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her...the kinds of games that can kill?

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Revised Edition)

Up until senior year, Greg has maintained total social invisibility. He only has one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time - when not playing video games and avoiding Earl's terrifying brothers - making movies, their own versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics. Greg would be the first one to tell you his movies are f*@$ing terrible, but he and Earl don't make them for other people. Until Rachel.

Kaleidoscope Hearts

He was my older brother's best friend. He was never supposed to be mine. I thought we would get it out of our systems and move on. One of us did. One of us left. Now he's back, looking at me like he wants to devour me. And all those feelings I'd turned into anger are brewing into something else, something that terrifies me. He broke my heart last time. This time he'll obliterate it.

Where the Stars Still Shine

Stolen as a child from her large and loving family, and on the run with her mom for more than ten years, Callie has only the barest idea of what normal life might be like. She's never had a home, never gone to school, and has gotten most of her meals from laundromat vending machines. Her dreams are haunted by memories she'd like to forget completely.

Maybe This Time

Moving in with my half-brother Xander, I had no idea what to expect. But nothing could have prepared me for this. My brother's friends are wild, protective, secretive, always around. And drop dead gorgeous. Out of all of them, there's something about Reid Knox. Brooding, temperamental, guarded... And I want him more than anything I have ever wanted in my life.

Dirty Red

Leah Smith finally has everything she has ever wanted. Except she doesn't. Her marriage feels more like a loan than a lifelong commitment, and the image she has worked so hard to build is fraying before her eyes. With a new role and a past full of secrets, Leah must decide how far she is willing to go to keep what she has stolen.

The Wrath and the Dawn

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the 18-year-old caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when 16-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch.

Mud Vein

When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her 33rd birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat... and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.

Living Dead Girl

When Alice was 10, Ray took her away from her family, her friends - her life. She learned to give up all power, to endure pain. She waited for the nightmare to be over. Now Alice is 15 and Ray still has her, but he speaks more and more of her death. He does not know it is what she longs for. She does not know he has something more terrifying than death in mind for her. This is Alice's story. It is one you have never heard, and one you will never, ever forget.

Left Behind

Two stories so deeply intertwined, you'll think you know how they intersect... but you'll be wrong.... Zack Martin The day I met Emily Bennett my whole world changed. Sure, we were just kids, but I was old enough to know my life would never be the same. She was my best friend. My destiny. My fate. I wasn't wrong... I just didn't know how twisted fate could be.

Epilogue: The Dark Duet: Book 3

I’m writing this because you begged. You know how I love the begging. In fact, you probably know too many things and know them far too well. Who am I? Well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out. I was a whore in my youth, a killer since my adolescence, and a monster as a man. I am the man who kidnapped Livvie. I am the man who held her in a dark room for weeks. But, most importantly, I am the man she loves. She loves me. It’s quite sick, isn’t it? Of course, there’s more to our story than can be surmised in a few short sentences, but I’m at a loss for justifying my behavior back then.

All the Bright Places

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him. Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister's recent death. When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it's unclear who saves whom.

Until the Beginning

When Juneau's clan disappeared, she lost more than her friends and family; she lost her entire world. She discovered her life was a lie - her people weren't living in the wilderness because they were the sole survivors of a nuclear war. They were in hiding, hoping no one would find them and learn their secret: They never get sick, they hardly age, and they have the power to communicate with nature.

Shattered Ties: The Ties Series, Book 1

With a former supermodel mother and a rock-and-roll legend father, Emma Preston has the best of everything. Nothing is as perfect as it seems though. After her parents divorce, she’s forced to live with her mother in a private Santa Monica community. Ignoring their parental roles, her mother becomes more focused on climbing the social ladder while her father is off on tour. Growing up in a trailer park with his mother, Jesse is used to people looking down on him.

Winger

Ryan Dean West is a 14-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy. With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important.

Uncovering You 7: Resurrection

I know why I was taken. How much does that change things? I cannot say. I still have a weakness for Jeremy - when he is Jeremy. But when he's Stonehart? Well, that's when all of my hatred comes back. I have to make myself detached, indifferent, and emotionally removed to make the proper decision on what to do next. Jeremy makes detachment hard. Stonehart makes it easy.

Pushing the Limits

No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible....

Half Bad: Half Life, Book 1

In modern-day England, witches live alongside humans: White witches, who are good; Black witches, who are evil; and 16-year-old Nathan, who is both. Nathan's father is the world's most powerful and cruel Black witch, and his mother is dead. He is hunted from all sides. Trapped in a cage, beaten and handcuffed, Nathan must escape before his seventeenth birthday, at which point he will receive three gifts from his father and come into his own as a witch - or else he will die. But how can Nathan find his father when his every action is tracked, when there is no one safe to trust?

Deliverance: Uncovering You, Book 6

Evil. That is really the best way to describe Jeremy Stonehart. When he was Stonehart. Is he that anymore? I don't know. As he reveals more and more of himself to me, I start to see a glimmer of the man beneath the surface. I start to understand, in some small way, that even evil comes from a source, from some initial seed that sprouted and took hold of a person's soul.

The Moon Dwellers: The Dwellers Saga, Book 1

In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground, into the depths of the Earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms. After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, 17-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.

Publisher's Summary

This stunning debut novel from Australian author Lucy Christopher generated considerable buzz for its nonstop suspense and breathtaking imagery. Sixteen-year-old Gemma is on a layover at Bangkok Airport, headed to Vietnam with her parents. Then the vaguely familiar Ty drugs Gemma’s drink and steals her away. Her head swirling in confusion, Gemma soon finds herself fighting to survive in the unforgiving Outback.

This narrator has the tone of voice that absolutely suits the story. It's a storyline that some will find unbearable if not unbelievable but the whole book relies on people understanding stories. I think it is lovely. I bought it on a whim and although I have already listened to it twice, it is a book I will come back to because it evokes a view of Australia that we would like to be part of or like to be true.

" Stolen" held my interest throughout. I couldn't help but like the two main characters of the story and all the way through I wasn't sure how I wanted their story to end. When I reached the ending I realized that the author got it right. Very enjoyable read.

I've never ever said that I'd wished that a book was longer, but I wish this book had more details. I was totally invested in this story and wanted to hear more details like what exactly did they eat and did they ever get eggs from the chickens? I wanted to hear more about when it finally rained, I would have enjoyed another couple of hours of this story. I loved the voice, the way it was written. I also loved the ending. I hope she writes a bunch more books.

Talk about a wonderful surprise! Stolen is about the abduction of a young girl and more. . . it is about truth and lies, relationships, right and wrong, love and hate, compassion and disregard for the feelings of others. What is most interesting is that the abductee and abductor are both telling lies and truths, doing what is right and yet also doing what is wrong, hating while learning to love, and feeling empathy and compassion all while having disdain and disregard for the other.

It is a great story, well narrated and certainly worth your time. I do think that women are more likely to relate to the story than men, but it may be that many men will like the book too.

This is not only a story about being kidnapped. It's really a story of what’s right and what’s wrong. I truly cared for Gemma, Ty, I even felt for the poor chickens and the camel tied up outside. I am so emotionally drained after reading this as it's the kind of story that really messes with your mind! I loved every minute of it. I do caution you, this is not the happily ever after type of story. The narrator did an outstanding job!

This marks the first fictional audiobook that I have ever listened to! And it is quite an enjoyable experience! Although I probably would have read this book in one evening, listening to it for the last few weeks has really brightened those slow hours at work. At first the slowness of listening frustrated me as Christopher’s novel is certainly a gripping story! But as I grew accustomed to letting my ears paint the pictures, I started really looking forward to those quieter moments when I could listen to it. The audio version is narrated by one woman, who has a pleasant voice to listen to. The novel’s format is that of a long letter from the abducted sixteen year old, Gemma, to her captor, Ty. Listening to the “you” makes this a bit startling at first to listen to, but it really makes it easier to identify with the villain, too. The narrator’s gruffer voice for male voice and higher one for the other women is a bit startling at first, but even when handling the different accents the narration is clear and easy to listen to and never distracting.

The storyline itself is dark for the YA market - definitely targeted towards the older end with its swearing, drinking and the overall abduction premise. The perspective and overall style of the book really sets it apart from other kidnapping stories. The book also offers a fascinating insight into Stockholm Syndrome - though at times the sympathy for the villain is over-emphasized. Still, it has a ring of authenticity to it. But, it definitely romanticizes being kidnapped - another reason why this is more appropriate for older teens and adults. It’s an emotional story - evoking tears and some genuine chills.

There aren't a lot of books that pull off writing in the second person, but Lucy Christopher does a reasonably good job of it. Surprisingly good, actually. It was an enjoyable book. Even at times when the symbolism was a touch heavy-handed, I didn't really mind because the author has a talent for scene setting, and doesn't belabor her metaphors. She managed to maintain some degree of suspense up through the end, and pulled off a risky style, so kudos to her. The synopsis of her other book sounds horrifyingly trite, but this one is worth a listen.

A very interesting story told in a very interesting way, you won't regret buying this book...

Narration is good but not perfect, sometimes it lacks the emotion described (like when someone is talking very angrily or excitedly it doesn't show) but at the rest of the time (95%) the story telling is excellent...

Only wish there was some sort of chapter naming or markings to know when to stop, doesn't have to be chapter numbering (maybe something like "(1). Day 1, (2). Evening, (3) Day 2, (4) The Trip...etc") but that's no big deal...

You might start to appreciate the book more once you read it all the way through, but the story is gripping enough so it's doubtful you'll start but not finish this great book...

I can truly see the heroine's dilemma and desperation. If you have ever been in any sort of abusive or dominating relationship, and felt unable to escape, or felt the complexities of co-dependency, you will probably love this book.

What other book might you compare Stolen to and why?

Room. Just a desperate, oh my gosh, what would I do, kind of a read.

What about Emily Gray’s performance did you like?

Excellent Aussie and British accents. Brings the main characters to life.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Extreme, no. But I cannot wait to hit "play" and don't want to get to the end and have it be over. Really enjoying it.

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